


Can't Cat(ch) Me

by alateni



Series: Cat in a Box [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 96 line as cats, Cats, M/M, also gyuhao being cute and domestic, but that's not really covered in depth, but what's new, low key youtuber AU, that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 00:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alateni/pseuds/alateni
Summary: In which cats are washed and dishes aren't cleaned.





	Can't Cat(ch) Me

“Hoshi! No, I, _ugh_! Don’t do that!” Minghao lunges forwards, just as Hoshi does. He ends up ramming his fingers against the wall of the shower, while Hoshi leaps gracefully out of the tub. Stumbling as he stands, Minghao tries to avoid slipping on the wet floor. As he climbs out, Hoshi’s tail waves goodbye as the sopping wet cat flees from his unwanted bath.

“Mingyu! We’ve got a wet cat on the loose!” Minghao screams. He quickly dries his feet on a towel, not wanting to get human _and_ cat footprints all over the house, before running after the renegade feline. Following the wet spots on the carpet, Minghao manages to track Hoshi down to the living room. There, shaking water in every direction possible, is Hoshi. On the couch. Minghao kind of wants to cry.

At that moment, before he can collapse onto the floor in despair, comes Mingyu to save the day. He walks in from behind, automatically encircling Minghao’s waist with his arms, and holds the slender boy up as he dramatically tries to fall to the ground. Instead, he’s caught, and resembles more of a rag doll than a human being. Hoshi stares at the two of them with disinterest before shaking one more time to get even _more_ water onto the couch.

“Everything okay babe?” Mingyu asks, lifting Minghao up. Propping him on his feet, Mingyu wills Minghao to stand on his own. Instead of answering, Minghao merely slumps against Mingyu, causing the taller boy to hold the majority of his weight, before shaking his head. Weakly, he points at Hoshi, pawprints staining the couch.

“I want to cry,” Minghao replies. “Why didn’t you wash him?”

“Because I washed Woozi _and_ June last week,” Mingyu reminds. “I still have a scratch on my arm.”

Minghao pouts. “Next time I want to wash June and Nonu.”

“You can’t take the easy way out babe,” Mingyu rolls his eyes. He stands Minghao upright, though the other boy is hesitant to support his own weight, before moving towards Hoshi. The cat gives him a suspicious glare, managing to jump over to the potted plants – luckily without spilling any dirt onto the floor – before Mingyu catches him.

Holding him with one hand and adjusting Hoshi’s bottom with the other, Mingyu wrangles the cat past Minghao and towards the bathroom. “I know, I know,” Mingyu coos, a soft, high voice to try and placate the unruly feline. “Baths suck, but you need to be clean.” Hoshi is not having it. He struggles, squirms, and melts into the animal equivalent of a liquid before Mingyu manages to deposit him back in the tub. “Look buddy,” Mingyu gives Hoshi a stern look, though the cat glares back at him. “You’re almost done, all you have to do is rinse and dry – and you like getting combed! _Please_ play nice?”

Hoshi meows indignantly. Mingyu takes it as a yes.

“Alright, he’s all yours,” Mingyu yells back. He watches as Minghao slowly walks back to him, sulking the whole way. He gives Mingyu a sad look, to which Mingyu pats him on the head, before dragging his feet into the bathroom. Once inside, Minghao finds Hoshi behind the shower curtain. Dragging him out, Minghao ignores the heart wrenching cries and proceeds to rinse the petulant cat.

Luckily, there are no more escapades. Later, though not soon enough for Minghao, Hoshi is wrapped in a towel and being vigorously wiped down. He sits this time, unmoving but with a very cross expression on his face. Minghao just hopes he’ll stay that way. After towel drying him, Minghao moves on to dry Hoshi’s fur as much as possible with a blow dryer. It fluffs him up, and Minghao enjoys the way it makes him look extra puffy – even though there’s cat hair flying everywhere. He’ll make Mingyu vacuum later.

After running the brush thoroughly through Hoshi’s fur, Minghao sends him on his way. The minute he lets go, Hoshi pounces away, tail waving high in the air. Minghao’s sure he’ll find him glaring sometime later today, hidden away in some inaccessible corner. He’d come around soon enough, most possibly around dinner time, so Minghao isn’t too concerned. Instead, Minghao busies himself cleaning the washroom. From wiping the floors to rinsing out the tub, Minghao sighs. Hoshi is definitely the worst cat to bathe, no matter how many times Woozi scratches Mingyu (only ever Mingyu, Minghao sure never has that problem). Though, to be fair, Woozi comes a close second, if only by a bit.

The cat, while he never scratches Minghao, is also the smallest of the four. That means _finding_ the little guy is harder than cleaning him. And once Minghao does manage to grab onto him, Woozi is a master of escaping. Minghao can’t go through one bath without him escaping at least three or four times – maybe two if he’s exceptionally lucky. Hoshi on the other hand, can never sit still. From squirming to weaving in and out of Minghao’s legs as he tries to keep water out of the cat’s ears, Hoshi moves like some sort of feline fluid. It isn’t often that he manages to run away from the run away (this time being an annoying exception) but he did make things a lot more difficult.

Finishing up in the washroom, Minghao makes sure to hang everything to dry before leaving. Immediately, he feels a head brushing against his shin. Looking down, Minghao crouches and pets the cat currently twirling around his feet.

“Hey there buddy,” Minghao coos, “where’ve you been all day?” June doesn’t reply, not that Minghao expects him too. He looks up at Minghao, with big, cute eyes that Minghao could never resist, before pawing at the human’s pant leg. _More pets_ , his eyes seem to say, _why did you stop?_

“Yes, yes,” Minghao laughs. He sits down, regardless of the fact that he’s right in front of the washroom, and June jumps into his lap. The cat turns around once, twice, and then one more time for good measure before settling down. His eyes slowly close as Minghao scratches at his ears. One hand working at June’s head, Minghao’s other hand combs through the fur on June’s body. The feline was getting a full body massage, courtesy of Minghao’s inability to resist cute animals.

June _meows_ , happily pawing at Minghao’s hand as the male tries to scratch at his ears. It’s like the cat can’t decide whether he wants to play or be pet, meaning he does the next best thing. Both. It’s a struggle, but Minghao manages to get through it, though he’s pretty sure he has several scratches on his wrist from June’s more aggressive swipes. Maybe he should consider cutting their nails soon, Nonu for sure is due for a manicure. The quieter cat had torn up one of Mingyu’s old high school sweatshirts yesterday and the taller boy wasn’t happy about it. Though Nonu had the time of his life and secretly, Minghao is glad the ugly mustard sweater could be disposed of. Actually, on that note, maybe Minghao should reward Nonu. He’d give it some more thought.

“I know,” Minghao coos, looking down when Junhui whines. “You need all the attention don’t you baby?” Minghao shuffles closer, leaning in so that his nose was practically pressed against June’s. The cat seems fairly offended at this, wiggling away from Minghao’s face. June licks his nose, yawning slightly, before deciding he’s finished with pets. Slipping out of Minghao’s grip, June pads away softly. He reaches the end of the hallway, before turning around. Sitting down and licking his paws, June looks back at Minghao one more time and closes his eyes slowly. Minghao returns the favour, and June takes his leave.

“I swear,” Minghao shakes his head, laughing under his breath. “That cat acts like a prince.” Getting up off the floor, Minghao wipes dust off of his knees – which was completely unnecessary considering that, if anything, Minghao and Mingyu were the cleanest people they knew.

Stretching, Minghao makes his way towards the kitchen, where Mingyu is sure to be. And he’s right. Entering the kitchen, Minghao makes note of the tripod and camera set up, before standing behind it. Mingyu’s filming, though the taller man smiles at him while cutting some kind of vegetable. Minghao didn’t know what it was. After a while, all the leafy green vegetables with bitter stalks look the same.

Mingyu nods to him in greeting, which Minghao returns, before going back to cutting. He slices through the rest of the vegetables fairly quickly, with an ease that looks almost like magic. Nonu is crouched beside him, far enough from the cutting board so he won’t get hurt, but close enough that the curious cat could see everything that is going on. Of course, all their cats are curious by nature, but Nonu is especially so.

No matter what it is, Nonu is always there. If Mingyu is cooking, Nonu’s by his side, sniffing every and all ingredients heading his way. If Minghao is painting, Nonu would be there, making sure his long tail didn’t get in any of Minghao’s paints. It’s like the cat is trying to learn, though Minghao isn’t sure how he is supposed to apply any of his knowledge. Nonetheless, Mingyu and Minghao make sure to satisfy his curiosity, letting him sniff and examine any new object that came into the house. He’s like customs of their own little country.

“Babe,” Minghao looks up, noticing that Mingyu had stopped filming. Minghao hums in response, and Mingyu motions for him to come over. “Can you film this for me? I need a top view and I’m too lazy to set up the tripod.”

Minghao huffs. “So you’re making me do the slave work?” He complains, whining, as Mingyu transfers the cut ingredients closer to the boiling pot. Mingyu leans over and kisses him quiet, and then hands him the camera. Minghao pouts, not satisfied with being forced into silence, but turns the camera on and holds steady as Mingyu stirs the pot and adds various sauces and liquids before pouring the vegetables in.

Minghao ends up assisting Mingyu with the rest of his filming. It’s easier, Mingyu said, to have him move as instructed rather than having to set the tripod in between each scene. It makes cooking easier too, Mingyu couldn’t count the number of times a pot had boiled over because he was trying to set up the camera. Minghao accredits that to Mingyu’s clumsiness and ignorance as to how big his body really is.

After Mingyu finishes cooking, he lets Minghao have a couple bites. And by a couple, he really means the whole thing. Mingyu was ‘watching his weight’ – meaning he just felt the need to feed Minghao. It fulfilled some weird protective instinct he has, or so he says. Minghao thinks he’s being a little creepy, but he also gets free delicious food so really, who’s he to complain? After licking the plate clean (Mingyu’s food was just _that_ good), Minghao hands it back to Mingyu. Standing on his tip toes, he kisses Mingyu on the cheek before running away, leaving Mingyu to do the dishes and put the camera equipment away.

As Minghao barrels into the next room, he hears Mingyu squawking behind him. Soon enough, there are footsteps chasing Minghao. They end up in the bedroom, with Mingyu lunging forwards, colliding into Minghao and landing them both in the bed. Minghao giggles, breathless as Mingyu shakes with mock anger above him. They’re both trying to get words out, to argue as best they can as to why the other person should be tasked with washing the dishes, but they’re also both too busy laughing and out of breath to say anything. It results in a mess of giggles, flying limbs, and sharp points in the wrong places.

Finally, Minghao manages to push Mingyu off of him. He massages his ribs, right where Mingyu’s elbow had been jammed into his side, before pointing at a dejected Mingyu on the floor.

“You made the food, you clean it.”

“I thought the agreement was whoever cooked didn’t have to clean?” Mingyu tilts his head, kind of like a puppy. It’s funny, how much the other male resembled a dog, yet they have a total of four cats in the house.

Minghao frowns at Mingyu’s logic. They had agreed upon that, but that was before Minghao realized that Mingyu would be doing the cooking most of the time. “That doesn’t count for videos.”

“When did we agree on that?” Mingyu raises an eyebrow.

“Just now,” Minghao declares, even though he knows he’s fighting a losing battle. Mingyu usually did the cleaning after filming, but that’s when he finishes the food himself. Whenever Minghao came and helped in the eating portion of the video, the Chinese male would often wash the dishes – as per his gracious and modest ways (the little Mingyu in Minghao’s head snorts). But today, today Minghao is tired. Washing Hoshi took up too much of his energy, and the little chase they just had completely sapped the remaining bits.

“Sure we did,” Mingyu rolls his eyes. He gets up off the floor, places his hands on his hips, and leans forward – not unlike Minghao’s mom would before she scolded him about a messy room. “Go wash the dishes Hao.”

“You’ll have to catch me first!” Minghao shouts, jumping off of the bed. He attempts to escape, not sure why he’s spending so much effort in avoiding a simple chore, but is soon caught by Mingyu (who was by the door anyways). Minghao is wrestled back into the room and promptly deposited on the bed. Climbing up beside him, Mingyu wraps his arms around Minghao and forcefully pulls his down.

“Let’s just,” Mingyu says, huffing slightly. “Rest and then we can both wash the dishes later.”

“You’re only saying that because you can’t catch me,” Minghao sticks his tongue out.

Mingyu scoffs. “What’s this then?” Mingyu gestures towards Minghao’s current position, in which he was very much a captive.

“Compliance,” Minghao responds. Mingyu laughs. Nonetheless, Minghao snuggles in beside the taller male. The dishes would be a bitch to deal with later, considering they weren’t soaking at all. Alas, that’s a problem for future Minghao. For now, Minghao closes his eyes, his own breathing matching Mingyu’s, and falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~ I thought I was going to be a lot more active now that I'm on summer break but alas, life doesn't work that way. I'm hitting a bit of a rough patch with my writing and I'm trying to solve that by writing shorter pieces on little bits of inspiration that come my way. Before I think I was focused a little too much on reaching a certain word count or making things long and in depth but that kind of stressed me out so here we are, with little short fics. Funnily, I had wanted to start a chaptered fic this summer but we'll see if that actually happens.
> 
> ANYWAYS. This fic (and maybe a series might come after) is inspired by this [channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmLiSrat4HW2k07ahKEJo4w) because it's so cute and they post cat videos daily it's such a blessing and this [channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRxAgfYexGLlu1WHGIMUDqw) which is basically what Mingyu does (also their other channel is great I love Rachel and Jun so much they're the reason I want a maine coon cat-). While we're at it, I'd recommend both channels (+ Rachel's and Jun's main channel) 100% because they're so pleasant and stress relieving to watch. A+ content.
> 
> Reminder that you can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/alatenii) if you'd like!
> 
>   
> Hope you're smiling!  
> 
> 
>   
> ~ alateni  
> 


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